Eggman Generations
by SirDeathShriek
Summary: The two Eggmen of the Past and Future find themselves stuck in a white void. With no way out, rescue comes in the form of another mad scientist. But can their new partner be trusted, and can they work together to accomplish their goals? Eggman gets his chance to shine in this fic, a story about the doctor, not Sonic!
1. White Egg

**Eggman Generations**

(O)(O)

The white abyss with no end, where he, and his irritating, if nevertheless brilliant counterpart, were trapped. They had scoured the abyss for what had to be hours, and both were getting tired.

Tired of walking, and tired of mulling over their dozens of defeats, world domination at their fingertips, snatched away from them by the world's most annoying hedgehog. It had started as a game, discussing their most brilliant plans and comparing who had the worst luck when it came to Sonic disrupting them. Eggman of the future, of course, had the worst luck: Chaos had run rampant and destroyed his Egg Carrier, Dark Gaia refused to be docile and flooded the planet with its energy, and then there were Shadow and Emerl, even if they weren't _his creations_ per say.

His younger counterpart reminded him a lot of... well, himself. Eggman of the future grabbed his forehead, his big, beautiful mind growing weaker. He wished Orbot or Cubot were here with them, of all things. He'd never finished working on their onboard sandwich dispensers, but had they had the _consideration_ to quit dawdling around in the exploded fragments of his interstellar theme park (another wonderful present from that infuriating hedgehog), and get sucked into the time distortion with him, he'd have started work on that ingenious function _immediately_.

"So," his other self went on, though he'd long ago ceased caring. "I think I might be a calculus teacher, or maybe physics? Tell me, other me, how did you manage to build a space fleet over the planet without Sonic noticing? I mean, I kept the Death Egg underground-"

Eggman of the future groaned, and wiped his face, too exasperated to yell. The nincompoop kept talking about abandoning conquest, going back to college and finishing his teaching degree, and that couldn't be allowed to happen. If his younger self pursued teaching instead of world domination, then the future that _he_ came from wouldn't come to be. He, the Eggman of the future, would no longer exist.

Or at least, he assumed so. Time travel was a tricky business, even for a genius. If the effects were instantaneous, as he assumed judging from the way that areas like South Island and Angel Island began to fade from existence the moment he changed something there, than he should have disappeared the moment his counterpart considered teaching. But that hadn't happened. It was his eternal hell that he be subjugated to this nonsensical change of heart, forced to walk the white abyss until his bones were all that remained, and they would vanish too, he imagined. There was heat in this void, somewhere, and that was what made him and his counterpart keep going, following the direction of the heat source.

There had to be something.

"If you're not going to answer, I'll just keep my thoughts to myself then, hmph!"

Finally he shut up. Eggman took a huge breath, relieved, and they kept at it, walking into the abyss. He wiped more of the sweat gathering on his nose. He was _sweating_ , somehow. There had to be a source.

"Look!" his other self shouted.

It was there, as if from a dream. He'd gazed the horizon before, maybe even prayed a little, asked whatever back-stabbing gods or deities that might be listening. Maybe one of them had answered. There, a gray surface, a tower pricked the white horizon. He wondered if it had been there before, mocking him silently as he was too delirious from hunger and aggravation to notice it.

"You think it's the way out?"

Eggman looked back at his other self. "I think it's my way out!" Then, without warning, he jogged ahead, arms pumping up and down from the exertion.

"W-wait, wait for me you fat loser!" Eggman of the past shouted, but he already had a good lead on him. He didn't want to take any chances, not after all he'd been through. That was the advantage of being from the future, being aware that providence wasn't always kind. They could have made it together, sure, and there'd be a machine, a device of some kind, capable of sending a single person back to... anywhere else but here.

He might have been older, but it was his cunning that mattered. His body wasn't in any better shape than his younger self's, and he remembered being quite the athlete in his early years.

A fact evidenced by the fact that a red shape bulleted past him, arms splayed behind him.

"What? I don't believe this! G, get back here! Don't' leave me!"

Eggman of the past didn't spare him a passing glance. His voice carried, even as he gained several meters ahead of him. "Sorry Eggman, but _this_ egg's not getting stuck in this abyss!"

His breath caught, and he had to slow down. "You," he said, heaving. "You don't even know _what_ that thing is! What if it takes two people to operate it, huh?"

"Then you can't operate it alone either! You needed _me_ to control the Time Eater, and wherever that thing's destruction brought us, I bet you can't figure out how anything works here either!"

Curse it all. One of the many times he had to be perfectly right about something, and, it meant eternal imprisonment in the void, a place beyond science and beyond reason.

No. He scorned that, that tumor of a thought. He was _the_ Eggman. His first forays into world domination involved dirtying up alternate dimensions, alternate timelines! The white abyss wasn't his first trek into another dimension, and it wouldn't be his last, but Eggman of the past had never gone that far, not yet.

Eggman remembered the laser pistol, he'd started keeping one on his person ever since that blasted fox got the better of him at Station Square. No more relying solely on robots to do his bidding. Eggman of the past would never go on another interdimensional adventure, he'd make sure of that, and he'd figure out how to get out of here.

(O)(O)

They stopped before a single gray tower, a mysterious mark upon the void. It stood an impressive height, clearly mechanical and designed with the finesse of an engineer, perhaps on the caliber of Eggman himself. The aesthetic was a bit more chrome than he was used to, but definitely the work of a master.

Eggman of the past hopped backward defensively, and pointed. "You were going to shoot _me_ in the back with that, weren't you, you dirty coward!?"

Eggman saw him, glanced at the pistol in his hand, and then shrugged. "I would've shot Mother Teresa in the back if it meant getting out of here. You would have too, don't lie."

"You are the _worst_!" cried Eggman of the past, stomping his foot. "How do I ever grow up to be like you! No _wonder_ Sonic's always thwarting my glorious plans! I grew up to be the world's _biggest_ as-"

"Quiet," demanded Eggman of the future, his voice oddly soft.

"What do you mean ' _be quiet_ '? We're in the middle of nothingness, trapped for god knows how long, and this is the first sign of human life we've located!"

"Not that," he said, squinting. He pointed at the front of the tower, near what appeared to be an entrance door. "You see that? That symbol look familiar to you?"

Eggman of the past tilted his glasses as he examined it, the black face on the front of the door. "It's some kind of face. Should I?"

Eggman sighed. "Of course you wouldn't, you haven't _embraced_ your title as Eggman, yet. I plucked you from a point in the timeline before I realized my true destiny as the ruler of the Eggman Empire! That symbol," he said, a finger pointed at the mustached, black logo, "is our calling card."

"That name, come to think of it, it's really stupid," his infernal counterpart said. "Where on _earth_ did you get the idea to theme yourself behind eggs?"

Just as Eggman started to correct him, the voice bellowed toward them, a bowling ball slamming into the pins. "Because eggs are _perfection_ , you simpleton! An egg is the _Mona Lisa_ of evolution, the _purity_ of biology harnessed into physical form!"

The voice blew through a loudspeaker somewhere on the tower, and a giant television screen lit up on the front, above the entrance. On it, a man with dark sunglasses glared at them.

"Eggs are the capsules that hide the extensive mechanical processes of life, creation, the universe itself. If all life in the universe was the product of dust from shattered comets and asteroids, think of the asteroid, the container that broke apart, unleashing the ingredients that allowed life to exist in the first place!"

The man on the monitor... gods darn it, Eggman knew him, knew him as well as he knew himself. His vernacular, the finely groomed mustache, right down to his speech, they were the same. The man raised a white-gloved fist before them, elevating himself.

"Eggs are the model for which all life was formed. He who masters their shape, their perfection, is the world's true master, he who stands above the wild animals that hatch from the eggs!"

"You," said Eggman, his voice a whisper. He said, louder, "You're... you have to be..."

"Yes," his other self said with a nod. "And you both appear to be me as well, from alternate or parallel timelines, I would guess. You meddled with the powers of time and space, and now you've found yourself here, as I have. Come in, we have much to discuss."

The front entrance opened with a mechanical precision, inviting the Eggmen into the tower.

(O)(O)(O)

"Welcome, my other selves. I call this place White Egg, my sole base of operations in this pointless, endless frontier of space!"

The aesthetic, Eggman noticed, was a lot more chromatic and shiny than he'd expected. Silver, gray-lined walls and ample lighting; there were two floors, and a winding staircase for access between them. Monitors embedded the walls, beeping and processing elaborate displays, calculations and graphs that flickered by, and terminals stuck out from the walls, glowing keyboards and a low, internal humming. The tower's insides emanated with a modular, energy-efficient design, a key sign that they were dealing with, shockingly enough, another Eggman.

He ushered them to travel up the stairs, and Eggman cursed under his breath. They found him sitting in front of a massive supercomputer, with nearly twenty different screens facing them. Already, he could tell that their new acquaintance was going to be a difficult person to work with, but seeing him up close as he spun around his chair, that did it. They talked alike, but they didn't look it. The Eggman before him was thinner, certainly, and his outfit somewhat sleeker, polished and pressed.

There was an exercise bike near the left wall, along with a half-eaten burger and an empty French fry carton, not far from a bench and a clothing iron that was still plugged into the wall.

Eggman looked at his other self, hiding his disgust.

"Greetings," he opened with, "I am Doctor Eggman, from the future. The gentleman beside me is my partner, the Eggman of the past."

"Doctor Robotnik, if you please," said his younger counterpart, raising his finger. "I am in _no way_ associated with _that_ jerk over there!"

Eggman scowled. "Whatever! We are, um, well, lost."

"I can see that," said the other Eggman, nodding. "My sensors detected your arrival in this dimension hours ago, but I couldn't spare the power to send out a scouting party."

"This is an incredible base," said Eggman of the future. He crossed his arms behind his back. "I mean, I've built bigger, more room to stretch the legs, but, given the circumstances, I'm quite impressed."

"Especially given that we found ourselves here without any tools or machines," added Eggman of the past. "We couldn't build anything like this. We would've starved!"

The other Eggman's eyebrow lifted curiously. "You mean, neither of you thought to simply build a particle accelerator and transmogrify the particles into a food source, like I did?"

Eggman of the past blinked, and Eggman of the future, dumbfounded, tried not to lose face. "Oh come now, you can't be serious. That's not how a particle accelerator works." As far as he knew, it wasn't.

He saw a flash of teeth, the other Eggman smiling superiorly. "It would seem that you are, to say the least, a few decades below my level of intelligence."

Anger seized Eggman of the future. "What did you just say?"

"Don't get your bootlaces twisted." That blasted smile stayed right where it was. "All I'm saying is that I long ago messed with the fabric of space and time, and I paid my price for it in isolation. But, I used that isolation to study the fabric of the universe, and I have come to a stark conclusion about the nature of my existence. I have been here longer than the both of you, yes, long enough to construct a refuge from the nothingness outside. But, I am not from the same timeline as you both."

"What do you mean?"

A pause, as if he needed to prepare. But the other Eggman spoke, his voice firm. "I am from a different timeline, one that no longer exists. It was the destruction of this apparent timeline, through events I have yet to decipher, that resulted in my existence here."


	2. Get A Load Of This

**Eggman Generations**

(O)(O)(O)

They sat at a conference table, which the new Eggman apparently had.

"I built White Egg brick by brick. Every now and then, a piece of something, a broken robot, scrap metal, all destroyed in similar fashions. I think you know by who."

Eggman jabbed his fork into the steak he'd asked for, and growled. " _Sonic_."

"That pest is a real headache for us Eggmen, no matter which timeline he's in, isn't he?" said Egg... Robotnik, his majesty preferred to be called, digging happily into his steak and eggs.

"Indeed," said the thinner doctor. "My memory of what happened to my world is filled with holes. All I remember was heading to Soleanna, and that there was a Chaos Emerald there." He flexed his hands with agitation. "But after that, it's all a big... blank, like a bomb went off in my memory! Then I was here, staring into nothingness. I've kept my sanity by keeping track of every second, minute, and hour. I use the Animus for that now. It's been two-thousand and six days since I arrived here."

"This Animus you spoke of," said Eggman, chewing a nibble of his steak, talking with his mouth full. "It sounds ingenious. You built it so that you could study your memories, and even built in life support systems so that you could stay in for extended periods of time?"

"It's not my design actually, but yes."

"Did you find anything useful?"

He shook his head. "I spent a great deal of time in my grandfather, Gerald Robotnik's memories, learning some of his craft from when he brokered a deal with the Black Arms. I found an ancestor, King Shahryar, but none of it was conducive to figuring out how I wound up here, or how to get out. When I wasn't inside, I tried to scout the abyss, maybe find a Chaos Emerald."

Robotnik twisted in his seat. "A Chaos Emerald! Oh, do you have any idea how hard those are to find?"

"Yes, I do," both Eggman said. The thinner Eggman continued, "But, if I understand your story correctly, you've only used the emeralds to power machines, yes?"

"Yes! What else are they good for? Gathering all seven would result in unlimited power. If we could find them all in this weird dimension, we could just build a new empire in this void, perfectly devoid of organics!"

"Correct," the other Eggman replied. "But, what you don't know, or haven't tried yet, is that the Chaos Emeralds are conduits of Chaos Energy, and by harnessing that energy, one can induce a process called Chaos Control."

"Chaos Control?"

"A form of teleportation, I've seen it put to incredible use, often against my goals."

"Indeed," said Eggman. "If we could induce Chaos Control, I'm sure we could figure a way out of here." He sneered. "My younger self hasn't had the experience necessary to reach these same conclusions, you see."

"Oh bite me, Egg-face!" Robotnik snarled, aiming his fork like a fencing saber, his foot planted on the table, the yellow triangles on his collar were stained brown with steak sauce.

"Bring it, Ro-buttnik!"

"-we _could_ escape with Chaos Control, _or_ we could try something _else_ , using the advanced technology of my White Egg!"

The two bickering Eggmen shifted their attention.

"What I've yet to tell you is that I have a plan, now that there are three of us. Seeing you both here has filled me with determination." He balled his fist. "I'm confident that, working together, we can beat Sonic and his puny friends!"

"What do you mean?" asked Robotnik. "I thought you were trapped here, just like us."

"I am, however, my White Egg is outfitted with machines designed to harness energy from the mind." He gestured at the walls. "Look around. Do you see _any_ batteries, any chaos emeralds hooked into the circuitry? Even with the Chaos Drives from the remains of my robots, most of them were dead and the few that weren't barely had any life. I had to figure out an alternative source of power. Everything you see here, in this tower, is powered by the mental energy I'm subconsciously producing. A single Eggman's brainpower is enough to power this tower!"

Eggman dropped his fork, crumbs of steak tumbling from his chin. "You're kidding."

"I'm not."

"You managed to power a _building_ on brainpower, an intangible concept?"

"That's correct, and no, it isn't intangible. There are conductors built into the walls that gather the necessary energy, keeping the machines running."

Eggman scoffed. "Okay, now I know you're full of it. There's no way you can harness mental energy as a power source! Even if you could, there wouldn't..." The hairs on the back of his neck stood. Sweat dropped down his temple, realization taking his breath away. "...be enough of it," he whispered.

The other Eggman grinned. "Even from a genius with a 300-point IQ, like myself, it's just enough to keep the machines running. But, with _three_ of us..."

"We could build a device!" Eggman swatted his plate from the table, it landing with a sharp crack as he used his hands to demonstrate. "The three of us working together, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. I've built interdimensional teleporters before." He gazed at Robotnik, and his thinner counterpart. "And you, too, I know you have! The checkposts I littered around South Island."

"Wait," said Robotnik, "you meant those things I built to scan for chaos emeralds in the area?"

He nodded. "Sonic used them to travel to other dimensions, where the chaos emeralds were! I didn't find out about it until years later."

"You're kidding! All this time, Sonic used _my_ devices to-"

"More importantly," he cut Robotnik off, "Those checkposts are the key to getting out of this place!"

"You're finally getting it!" cheered the other Eggman, standing. "I'll finally be able to see the outside world again, and we'll work together to best Sonic! The White Egg has the size, and will soon have the power to bring us to any time period we choose, or even parallel timelines! I've discovered that this dimension acts as a gateway of sorts. We can..."

The two Eggmen glowered at him.

"What?"

Robotnik rested his chin on his palm. "Won't work."

"But we haven't-"

"-tried it already." Eggman sighed, making a defeated gesture with his hand. "That's how we ended up here, remember? I've been working on a theory during our time here. The universe functions under certain laws. That's partly the reason I chose the egg as my symbol. It's the perfect shape, all my doomsday weapons obey the natural order. But when we take an action that upsets that balance, the universe hits back like a rocket-propelled truck. Whenever there are _two_ Eggmen in existence, _two_ Sonic's show up to stop them. Case in point, I took possession of a primordial, time monster-"

Robotnik interjected, "Don't you mean, _we_?"

"-and even after I _scattered_ Sonic's comrades through _time_ and laid traps for him, Sonic and his past self used the Chaos Emeralds to fix everything and beat us both."

The thinner Eggman shoved his plate toward the center of the table. "It's an interesting theory, I admit. But, three Eggmen _should_ be enough to make a difference, shouldn't it? What if we just, I don't know, capture Sonic when he least expected it?"

"That wouldn't be worth the victory," he replied, grimacing. "I know what you're suggesting. Travel back and strangle Sonic in his crib. But that's just cartoonishly evil."

"I agree," added Robotnik, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "I would find no satisfaction defeating my greatest enemy before he was even capable of defending himself. That would be no victory."

Eggman rubbed his chin, tousling the hairs of his mustache between his gloved miracle-workers. "Obviously, three Eggmen isn't enough. We might have the ability to produce enough mental energy to travel through time, but we don't have a solid plan for what to do with it. Trust me, meddling with time is a lot trickier than it sounds."

"Perhaps we need a fourth opinion?" Eggman and Robotnik stared at their counterpart. "I think I, or rather, _we_ , know somebody who could help."

(O)(O)(O)(O)

"Witness my evil dream to rid Mobius of music and fun forever!" declared evil genius, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. "My latest invention, the _mean_ _bean_ -steaming ma _chine_ will not _only_ dispose of those fun-loving, jolly _beans_ of Beanville, but turn them into robot slaves to serve _my_ evil purposes!"

The machine consisted of a series of conveyor belts, and three large, interlocked machines. The citizens of Beanville, the sentient, smiling little abominations, were loaded onto the belt, and processed. The first machine analyzed their genetic structure to verify their _beanitude_ – if his idiot robotic henchmen accidentally grabbed a rock or a pebble instead, and tossed it in there, the rocks would clog the machine and cause the whole system to collapse, so he needed to be _absolutely_ _sure_ that _only_ beans went in.

The second machine was his Roboticizer, the name speaking for itself. A trio of beakers connected from the top, boiling from the internal temperatures of the Mean Bean machine. A steam whistle blew for every bean converted into machinery, and lightbulbs covered the machine, flashing yellow and red while it was activated. He decided to include a level to turn the machine off. No sense in wasting power when it wasn't being used, after all.

"Robots," he ordered. "Bring me those beans!"

His henchmen, the bird, Scratch, and the drill-nosed robot, Grounder, complied, turned, and headed off to complete their master's bidding. He expected at least a few failures, so he'd thrown a few more robots to the task, demanding they gather up as many beans as they could. At least Coconuts probably wouldn't fail him. Once he had the beans, he could mix them into a chili sauce, and then, Sonic wouldn't even know what hit him until the button was pressed and the bombs went off and...

A laser discharged, and Robotnik's attention went to the charred remains of his two robots, Scratch and Grounder, the blackened bottom of Scratch's chassis fizzling with smoke. His legs fell over, and Grounder followed suit, now missing a head.

"What in the?"

Footsteps crept behind him. He turned, facing a man with sunglasses, balding, and a black and yellow coat. A pistol glimmered in his hand. "I believe I should introduce myself."

"Who are you?" Robotnik shouted, not showing fear. He was inside his Veg-O-Fortress, built atop the hideous behemoth that used to be Mount Mobius, where none should have gotten past his henchmen. He never thought to arm himself, not with all of his robots guarding the perimeter, but now there was a gun in his face and a stranger holding it. How had this happened?

"That's an interesting question, my dear brother," said the man, smiling a devil's grin. The rusted gray hair on his face suggested age, and his tone of voice, insanity. "Quite an existential question funny enough, asking yourself who you are. But I don't think you'd appreciate the irony of the situation without further explanation."

Robotnik pointed at the man with a meaty finger, defiant. "I don't know who you are old man, but this is _my_ fortress you're standing in. What made you think you could just waltz in here and blow up my robots!?"

As he eyeballed the old man, inwardly, he noticed something oddly familiar. Perhaps it was the sinisterly intent lurking behind his sunglasses, or his ruthlessness in dispatching his henchmen.

"I am your dark mirror, Robotnik."

"What is this nonsense?" he shouted, taking a step back.

"You are a scientist, are you not?" The old man took a step of his own, matching his. "Use your fat head and draw the necessary conclusions. There is a theory, that the universe is not singular. No, in fact, the universe is multi-faceted, much like the surface of an emerald! Mwa-ha-ha!"

Robotnik wondered what the old psychopath was going on about. His eyes scanned the laboratory: his Mean Bean Machine, a workbench with a HEV suit, tools, pliers, a stasis module, hammers, and a television monitor with an image of a ring on it.

He decided to play along, keep the man talking. "Multiverse theory, you mean?"

"Get a load of that," the older man laughed. "He gets it!"

Robotnik regained his composure, all the fear leaving his expression. "I take it that, you're inferring I am being _threatened_ by a traveler from an alternate dimension?"

The laser pistol lowered, and the old man bowed. "You may refer to me as Doctor Eggman _Nega_. I am your doppelganger, among doppelgangers!"

Robotnik blinked, briefly losing his concentration, trying to make sense of what he'd just heard. His mouth worked absently, the words slipping out. "You're insane."

The old man shrugged. "Once you've eliminated the impossible, _whatever_ remains, _must_ be the truth. You see the truth don't you? Rise and shine, Robotnik, the doctor is making a house call! Confusing, yes, I recall that well. I am from a world..." The old man looked around. "...quite different from your own, I imagine. I was contacted by our brother Eggmen in my world, where they rescued me from a fiery creature known as the Ifrit. Our Egg-brethren have _mastered_ the powers of time and space, and have built a machine that allows passage between the worlds. They brought me into their fold so that we could work together on a solution."

A solution, he said. But the old man's words had him slightly intrigued. "A solution to what?" asked Robotnik.

He regretted it immediately. The old man's smile was downright rotten. "To our mutual problem, of course!"

(O)(O)(O)(O)


	3. Eggman Boom

**Eggman Generations**

(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)

They added a fifth chair to the conference table. Five figures, five great men sat around it now, most of them bald, one of them with frighteningly red eyes, and most slightly overweight. The gathering of the greatest minds, the Eggmen across the multiverse, was punctuated by their dress – none of them matched perfectly, but the inspiration was there, the same red and black color schemes, the yellow accents of their clothes. In essence, they were all the same, beautifully brilliant.

The Eggman responsible for the unique gathering (or so his autobiography would later say) stood. "I'd like to settle this now before we get started. Since we're all members of the Egg clan, different universes or not, we need to be able to identify each other."

"You mean, codenames? That's ridiculous," said Robotnik, pushing his light blue glasses back up. "We all look different. I'm rounder than you _and_ better-looking. The Eggman that rescued us is the thinnest, Eggman Nega wears different clothes, and Robotnik over there..." He gestured at the Eggman with the cone-shaped head and the widest chair at the table. "He doesn't even have irises!"

"Watch your tone fatty," the Robotnik with the idea for the Mean Bean machine snapped back. "I can't help but notice that _you_ really _do_ look like an egg. I bet if you fell down on a sidewalk, you'd crack open and turn into the ugliest omelet ever made."

"At least I didn't come up with a machine that turns _beans_ into robots!"

"Yes, because flowers and animals are _so much more_ efficient!"

"Enough," declared the Eggman that brought them here, the builder of the White Egg. "I agree that we should use codenames, but _only_ because we need to identify ourselves for the history books we will soon author!" His fellow Eggman voiced their agreement. "There was a computer file I managed to locate from my destroyed robots. It mentioned something called 'Solaris', which translates roughly to 'the Flames of Disaster'. I have no idea what else it means and there isn't any additional information on it, but I like the sound of it. So for the time being, I will call myself: Eggman Solaris."

Eggman smiled, adjusting the goggles on his forehead. "I'll be Eggman _Prime_ then. I cast off the name Robotnik long ago. And let me be perfectly clear, this alliance is only temporary, until we've all figured out how to deal with our individual problems. The world, and I would assume _every_ world, only has room for one Eggman, _one_ boss! We should all return to our original worlds once we've solved our dilemmas, and destroy any and all technology that could be used to travel back." His grin widened. "We're all textbook definitions of megalomania after all, it'd be in our best interests to prevent ourselves from turning on one another!"

"Interesting that _you'd_ bring that up," the Robotnik in the red shirt and yellow ascot huffed. "Fine then, call me Robotnik Classic! N, no wait, call me... Robotnik _Prime_! I'm the original anyway, it only makes sense."

"Pfft, you're a classic alright – an outdated one, if anything. An antique!" said Eggman.

"That's right, an antique, built to last, unlike anything _you've_ ever designed!"

"Why you-"

"We should stop fighting, Egg brethren," said Eggman Nega. He gestured toward himself. "I'd prefer to stick to _my_ original title, Eggman Nega, it rolls off the tongue and distinguishes me."

The fat, red-eyed Robotnik jabbed his thumb at his chest. "I will be _Saturday_ Robotnik, then!"

The others at the table looked at him.

"Saturday is the _best day_ of the week," he explained, eyes closed with pride. "I will be, and _am_ , the _best, most ultimate_ Robotnik here, for I am the only one who continues to actually menace Sonic!"

Eggman said, laughing, "Oh please, when we found you, you weren't even fighting Sonic! You were terrorizing a town of talking beans!"

"If we're measuring _yolks_ here, let's look at accomplishments! I have my Veg-O-Fortress, and my SWATbots and my mean bean machine are far more reliable than your Badniks and Egg Pawns. True, I've never built a space fleet, or an amusement park, or enslaved time-traveling creatures, but _I've_ gathered _all_ _four_ chaos emeralds and become imm-"

There were snickers throughout the room.

"What? What's so funny?"

Robotnik chuckled. "Surely, Robotnik _Extra-Large_ would be more fitting."

"Why you little-"

The table shook as XL's fists slammed against it. Solaris raised his hand, silencing him. "Please, let's move on, we're getting away from our original goal: we need to combine our efforts to think of a way to use this... unique situation to our combined advantage. That's why we brought you here."

"Actually," said Eggman Nega, "this Sonic you all despise isn't even a part of my world. I believe, from what Robotnik Prime and Solaris have explained to me, there are constants and variables in each of our worlds. In some worlds, Sonic is the source of our grief. In others, it may be one of his friends, or another animal entirely. It's quite possible that, in one of these alternate scenarios, there could be a female version of us, or maybe a version of us who didn't seek world domination, and fights Sonic and his friends for purely altruistic reasons."

"Preposterous," said Robotnik XL. "But, in the infinite universes, I suppose anything is possible. I was a man named Ivo Kintobor once. If the accident that inspired me to pursue world domination hadn't occurred, perhaps I would still be Kintobor, continuing some other worthless pursuit!"

While he wondered what on earth his red-eyed counterpart was talking about, Eggman decided not to probe further. "Regardless of who our nemesis is, I think our first course of action should be-"

"-gather the chaos emeralds!" blurted Robotnik.

"No!" he shouted. "Definitely not, we've tried that before. That blasted fox always notices something's wrong, if not him, the echidna senses something. Next thing we know, Sonic's blowing up oil factories and destroying whatever answers I come up with to the world's energy crisis!"

"Come now," said Solaris. "Why fix what isn't broken? I think it's a fantastic idea, we have the means-"

"I'm telling you, it won't work. We need to be more calculating, do something Sonic wouldn't expect. Like, host a sporting event, and use the distraction to steal all of the chaos emeralds!"

"What makes you so sure that Sonic would carry all seven with him," asked Eggman Nega. "I know in my world, the guardian of the Sol Emeralds made sure to hide them exceptionally well. Why, with this incredible technology, I suggest we just create another Time Eater, and start blowing up different eras and see what happens!"

XL shouted, "What on earth are the Sol Emeralds? And why do you nincompoops keep saying there are seven emeralds? There are only four-"

"-We have time travel technology, at our fingertips," Robotnik intervened. "That's what we need to focus on! We can visit any era that we want! I had to enslave a time-traveling planet and chain it to the ground, and that was nothing like what we have here. No annoying special zones with weird UFO's flying around-!"

"Bah," XL spat. "I invented a time machine all on my own. It's really not that hard!"

"It really isn't," Solaris agreed.

"Even with five of us, we still can't decide what to do!" Eggman smacked his forehead. "There must be someone with a plan we can all agree on!"

XL raised his pointer finger. "Eureka, I've got one! We should learn from our mistakes, my fellows!, by watching an Eggman at work! We'll go to an alternate reality, and observe our counterpart there, observe anything that goes wrong in his scheme!"

Eggman snapped his fingers. "Now that's a plan I can get behind!"

Solaris coughed. "Now that we're an assembly of future world leaders, slash, diabolical scientists, we should probably put such suggestions to a vote."

"Alright," said Eggman, thrusting his hand out. "I vote that we all vote to not put things to a vote!"

(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)

Building an interdimensional teleporter had been child's play for three Eggmen, and now there were five of them. For years, Eggman had sought the chaos emeralds to harness their amazing powers. But here, Solaris, from that mysterious, obliterated timeline, had unlocked a power like none he'd imagined, the pure, rational power of mental acumen. And with it, they'd bridged the gap between dimensions. The brilliance of the discovery stunned him, he wished he'd come up with it himself.

Following with Solaris's idea, they chose a simple design for the teleporter. Functioning concepts didn't need to be altered, so they built a lamppost, with a red sphere on top. With the resources and building materials pilfered from the universes of other Eggmen, they built a second building right next to the White Egg, a testing facility with a dome-shaped testing chamber. The lamppost rested at the center, waiting for the mental energy that would be siphoned into it, opening a large vortex.

Solaris needed to stay behind, he being the only one with an understanding of mental (they suggested branding it 'Egg energy') energy, and so that someone could make sure they'd return to the White Egg, if the mission went south. They hadn't worked together a relay device yet – there couldn't be without first experiencing and gaining the coordinates from an alternate universe – so having an Eggman at mission control was vital, otherwise they'd be stuck in the other world.

"Remember," said Solaris over an intercom. "We're still testing this technology. Remember to record any phenomena you come across."

The moment brought a tear into Eggman's eye. He took a solitary glance at his companions, partners he could actually rely on for once! He rubbed the tear away, not wanting to show weakness, and reminding himself that he needed to keep an eye on Eggman Nega.

That version of him wasn't what he seemed, the faux politeness, the darker colors, the manic glint in his eye. Everytime they exchanged glances, it sent a shiver down Eggman's spine. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He stared at a picture of himself, but he didn't recognize the person there, and it frightened him. XL was markedly different from him, but he felt a kinship there.

Leading a group, attack parties, usually made him feel proud, but he kept looking over his shoulder. Solaris flipped the switch and the vortex opened, so Eggman composed himself, and pointed forward.

"March Eggmen, to the first step in our conquest!"

They stepped through the veil, the phantom mist that divided the universes and the dimensions.

They found themselves in a forest, lush and verdant, and every bit as cliché as the adjectives sounded. To be fair, it resembled more of a jungle. The stone runways definitely weren't like the plaid-pattern hills or the striped grasslands he was used to. It reminded him of the Mystic Ruins, the weathered stonework that composed two-thirds of that echidna's blasted floating island. Everything around them appeared natural, without a sign of the Eggman Empire, or civilization, for miles.

Solaris didn't have the resources to help them build Eggmobiles for themselves, but thanks to their entry into XL and Nega's universes, cobbling together spare Eggmobiles had been a cinch. The four Eggmen formed a circle in their Eggmobiles, floating a couple of feet off the ground with near silent propulsion.

"Where are we?"

Robotnik was the first to ask where they'd ended up, not that any of their machines had GPS's or any way to map the area. Eggman shook his head, taking in the surrounding forests.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Wherever we ended up, there doesn't seem to be much civilization. It could be we've ended up far from where the Eggman Empire of this world was established, some uncharted, lawless territory."

An explosion cut the observation period short, and all four Eggmobiles swung to face the source of the noise. Stone crumbled from a missile impact; a massive object had probably been destroyed.

Their communication was silent, strangely perfect even. Eggman signaled with two fingers, and the Eggmen rallied around him, the hums of their Eggmobiles deadened by the chatter of the forest animals around them, scattering from the disturbance. They approached, slowly, until Eggman peeked around an overgrown plant to see the remains of a bridge, and the chasm below it.

"What do you think happened here?" asked XL, but Eggman shushed him, pulling out a metal device, a noise amplifier for hearing conversations and far away sounds.

Through the earpiece, he heard his own voice, gloating. _"So, I dug up these ancient robots, and it took me_ forever _to figure out how to control them. And then I couldn't have all that effort go to waste unless I'd sic'em on_ you _!"_

"What do you hear?"

" _Toodles_!"

"It sounds like... us. I think we've found our counterpart. I never imagined it would be this easy!"

"Oh I did," said Robotnik, flattening the end of his mustache. "Clearly you don't have a big imagination, oh wise and honorable Eggman-sama!"

Eggman snarled. "Shut it you! We don't know what this Eggman is like. He might have a taste for demolition charges, but the sorry state of this forest tells me he's either gone soft, or of a terrifyingly different mold. I would advise extreme caution, at least until we know more."

"As would I," entered a new voice. The Eggman looked up, a black, egg-shaped object descending upon them.

His manner of dress was, again, completely different from theirs. Green goggles sat on his head, hinting at an engineering background, but he donned a colorful, military dress that he filled it out well, the front yellow flap attached to one of several golden buttons. His shoulders, powerful and lean.

"I must say, this isn't what I expected when I read my horoscope today," said the new Eggman. "I must be suffering iron deficiency; because otherwise, I'd be looking at four creepy lookalikes who have stolen and reverse-engineered my Eggmobile!"

"You," Eggman shouted, pointing at his counterpart accusingly, " _you're_ the one who caused that explosion just now, aren't you?"

"That _boom_ a second ago?" the new Eggman said, all too pleased. He took a fake bow; he stood up, since his Eggmobile apparently lacked a seat. "Why yes, that was me!"

Eggman rubbed at his forehead. "Ugh, I hope you're not some kind of anarchist. That's the last thing I need to see today."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know that I won't have anyone getting rich off of forgeries of my hardwork!" shouted his barrel-chested doppelganger. "Robots, aaaa _attaaack_!"

The order echoed through the jungle, unheard.

"Oh wait, right, they're in the middle of destroying Sonic and Tails, can't believe I forgot about that," he said, scratching the back of his head. He apologized. "Sorry, but um, think we could settle this dispute next week, after I've destroyed Sonic and taken over the world?"

Robotnik leaned and whispered, "He's a character, isn't he?"

"Doctor Eggman, I presume," came Eggman Nega's voice, sincere and not the least bit scornful. "It's an honor to meet you, my other self. Truly, we Eggmen are exquisite like fine, egg wine in every universe I've been fortunate enough to witness!"

"Who are you people?" demanded the barrel-chested Eggman. "And what the heck is 'egg wine'?"

"We are, to put it simply, alternate versions of you from other worlds, and-"

"-wait, what? Alternate universes, you say?" The new Eggman grasped his chin, apparently understanding. "Yes, that'd make a whole lot of sense, multiverse theory and all that."

The Eggmen collectively blinked.

"What? It makes sense. You four all look like me, kind of." He cast a disapproving glance at Robotnik XL. "You're using my technology, and you even sound like me. You're all probably here as part of some interdimensional scheme to, I don't know, study me from afar while I fight Sonic, and to learn from my mistakes in order to exonerate your own. Am I right?"

"That's inexorably correct, except for one part," said XL. "We were intending to study your battles with Sonic completely unnoticed, analyzing any mistakes you may or may not have made."

"Once we gathered enough information, and made sure you weren't some crazy, homicidal maniac trying to reset the universe or something," said Robotnik, standing up on his Eggmobile and putting his knee forward. "We were going to offer you the chance to join us." He hurried back into his seat when his weight nearly sent the vehicle off-balance.

Eggman grinned. "My friends and I have discovered a way to travel between universes, but we're had difficulties on figuring out the best way to apply it to our shared problems-"

"Good!" shouted the new Eggman. "Because you _all_ need to leave!"

"What?"

"Don't you know anything about alternate dimension feedback loops? Of course not. Having multiple versions of me in the same dimension could cause some kind of catastrophic anomaly! The explosion would wipe out this entire dimension and everyone in it. I am building my empire in this dimension, and as such, I will not have it destroyed by this foolishness!"

Eggman listened carefully, thinking about Solaris's predicament. "You sound as though you've experienced this phenomenon before! Forgive us, we're still new to traveling across dimensions!"

"Well, it's an easy mistake I suppose. Look, the interdimensional explosion won't happen immediately, though I wouldn't suggest staying longer than twenty-four hours, especially with five of us all in one dimension. I guess you could stay and watch my current plan."

Eggman sneered and stroked his mustache. "I mean, if you wouldn't mind, dear counterpart."

"Yes!" said his alternate, beating his chest. "Let me show you all how it's done. Right now, my new robots are leading Sonic and Tails to an ancient temple, where inside there should be some kind of evil... snake... god... I think, still not entirely clear on that, but if my research is correct, Sonic should be entering the temple, and awakening the creature, right about... now!"

It was at that moment, as his alternate counterpart explained his plan, at that moment, Eggman's surroundings blanked out.

(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)

When the Eggmen awoke, a wheel of colors assaulted them. The ground beneath them narrowed and twisted and glowed, every motion rapid and volatile. The colorations shifted faster than the eye could perceive, giving them all a nauseating feeling.

The group was short an Eggman.

"Ow. Where did we... why did we teleport?" asked Eggman Nega, gazing around. "Where are we?"

Robotnik grimaced. "The last place anyone wants to be. We're in the Special Zone..."


End file.
